The Rose Research Fellows program is building off its first-year successes with another group of first- and second-year students eager to explore their research interests in a variety of science, engineering, and mathematics topics during the 2024-25 academic year.

This year’s 18 Rose Research Fellows is a slight increase from the 15 students that completed projects during the program’s inaugural 2023-24 school year.   

“It’s great to see students excited about research so early in their academic careers here. They really want to be engaged with these topics and be part of the research community,” said Rose Research Fellows Director Irene Reizman, PhD, the Alfred R. Schmidt Endowed Chair for Excellence in Teaching and Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering. “Rose-Hulman’s focus on undergraduate education and close-knit campus environment allow students to have an opportunity to work directly with faculty on research. That’s not always possible with other schools.” 

Research projects completed last year included topics within machine learning, optical engineering, renewable energy, robotics, data science, astronomy, biomaterials, biomimicry, and mathematical modeling.

Reizman noted that all academic departments with undergraduate degree programs have had fellows during the first two years of the program. 

Members of the 2024-25 Rose Research Fellows class, along with their academic majors and research area of interest, are:

• Anahita Adhikari, second-year student, biology, computational biology
• Luke Baker, first-year student, computer science, robotics and machine learning
• Kieren Hall, first-year student, undecided, electronics and drone technology
• Makayla Johnson, second-year student, biomedical engineering, regenerative medicine and biomaterials
• Taehyeon Kim, second-year student, civil engineering, structural engineering
• Liza Kurian, second-year student, chemical engineering, biofuels and sustainability
• Kai Chun Lin, second-year student, computer science, machine learning for medical imaging
• Fredrick Odezugo, first-year student, biomedical engineering, personalized therapies, healthcare, and entrepreneurship
• Alfonso Penafiel, first-year student, mechanical engineering, robotics and renewable energy
• Jennifer Rajesh, first-year student, computer science, UX/UI design for software and educational software
• Mary Sclafani, first-year student, engineering design, hydroponics and research for community impact
• Minchae Seok, second-year student, civil engineering, infrastructure resiliency and structural design
• Alex Siemer, first-year student, biology, sustainable bioproduction and environmental protection
• Yujin Sung, second-year student, chemistry and mathematics, natural products and green chemistry
• Manya Suresh, first-year student, biomathematics, gene expression in disease and drug development
• William Valentine, second-year student, computer science and mathematics, visual recognition techniques and human-robot interactions
• Chengyang Ye, second-year student, electrical engineering, communication systems and signal processing
• Kelvin Zhou, second-year student, computer science, artificial intelligence

Participating students will be enrolled in a course this fall that introduces them to the fundamentals of research and they identify a research topic that will be completed during the rest of the school year. They also get opportunities to attend virtual speaker events with Rose-Hulman alumni and other guests. Students then showcase their projects in a final formal presentation to the campus community at the end of the school year.

Learn more about the Rose Research Fellows at www.rose-hulman.edu/ResearchFellows.